MM3rdQB: How many fans really show up to Quick Lane Bowl, and does it matter?

Duke's win over Northern Illinois in the Quick Lane Bowl on Tuesday at Ford Field in Detroit drew an announced crowd of 20,211, but there appearerd to be somewhat fewer fans in the stands of the 64,500-seat NFL stadium.

With the evening mercury hovering at 12 degrees and the snow piles outside Ford Field rapidly fading from Bing Crosby white to sooty gray, another edition of the Quick Lane Bowl unfolded inside the stadium Tuesday evening.

The fourth iteration of the Boxing Day college football game in downtown Detroit saw Duke University beat Northern Illinois 26-14 in front of an announced crowd of 20,211 inside the 64,500-seat domed NFL stadium.

That attendance number, of course, is best taken with a heaping helping of Michigan road salt.

The official attendance for such games is usually tickets sold and tickets given away for free -- although the Lions have said their total is butts-through-the-turnstiles. Either way, I suspect there may have been more fans in attendance for free or at deeply discounted rates than those actually paying for tickets.

I spent the first half of the game walking the stadium's concourse, eying the crowd and trying to get a feel for the number of fans present. My guess is between 12,000 and 15,000. More likely the former.

For a match-up between two nondescript teams hundreds of miles from their homes, that's probably not a bad crowd — especially on a frigid evening in Detroit.

The formal attendance number was the second lowest in the game's four-year history. Boston College's 36-30 victory last year over the University of Maryland drew the smaller at 19,117 fans. The largest was in 2015 when the University of Minnesota beat Central Michigan University 21-14 three days after Christmas in front of 34,217 fans. Obviously, that game benefited from the Chippewas being so close to home.

The inaugural 2014 game was a day-after-Christmas affair that saw Rutgers University beat the University of North Carolina 40-21 before an announced crowd of 23,876.

I left messages with the Lions to get some insight into the game's crowd and the bowl's finances; is it profitable with such small attendance inside the 64,500-seat stadium?

Most of the game's revenue is generated from corporate sponsorships. Dearborn-based Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center is the bowl's naming rights sponsor, and a year ago it committed to another three years. Quick Lane and the Lions ultimately are owned by the Ford family, and using the game to brand the auto center chain is probably considered worth the cost.

Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center, a chain of more than 800 auto service outlets created by Ford Motor Co. for its Ford and Lincoln dealerships, in 2014 agreed to pay the Lions $1.8 million over three years for the title sponsorship. The sponsorship dollars for the extension through 2019 haven't been disclosed.

Bill Shea/Crain's Detroit Business

Duke's win over Northern Illinois in the Quick Lane Bowl on Tuesday at Ford Field in Detroit drew an announced crowd of 20,211, but there appearerd to be somewhat fewer fans in the stands of the 64,500-seat NFL stadium.

If the corporate dollars and other revenue streams cover the cost of the game and leave the bowl in the black, it really doesn't matter much how big or small the crowds are.

The bowl is produced by the Lions' in-house entertainment division, DLI Entertainment. It promotes and helps organize many of the large-scale shows, events and non-Lions games at Ford Field.

The Quick Lane Bowl functionally replaced the Motor City Bowl that began at the Pontiac Silverdome in 1997. The Motor City Bowl moved with the Lions to Ford Field in 2002, and became the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl in 2009-13. That game, produced by outside organizers who leased Ford Field from the Lions, ended as sponsorship dollars dried up amid struggles every year to find quality participants.

The Motor City/Pizza Bowl did have some eye-popping attendance numbers when it drew a local team, such as 60,624 for Purdue University's 51-48 thriller over Central Michigan University on Dec. 26, 2006.

The Quick Lane Bowl pairs Big Ten and ACC teams selected by bowl organizers, or teams from other conferences if none are eligible or available from its first tier conferences.

The game aired live on ESPN. Local TV ratings are not yet available for the game.

The Quick Lane Bowl has floated a bit on the TV schedule. Last year's game was played at 2:30 p.m. on ESPN, and the 2015 game kickoff was at 5 p.m. and it aired on ESPN 2. The first Quick Lane Bowl kicked off at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 26, 2014, and it aired on ESPN. This year's game kicked off at 5:15 p.m.

As part of the tradition of giving swag to the bowl's players, each of the Huskies and Blue Devils got a $550 "gift suite" that included a custom Fathead wall decal of themselves; JBL E55BT Bluetooth headphones; $175 Best Buy gift card; Quick Lane Bowl backpack and luggage tag, merchandise package, commemorative football and mini helmet. The head coaches got a Shinola watch and a welcome basket of Michigan-made products and a Quick Lane Bowl merchandise package.

Schools participating in college bowl games get a financial payout for participating in the game, but it's unclear how much Duke and NIU are getting for the Quick Lane Bowl. The Lions declined to disclose the payout data. A request for payout numbers was also sent to the athletic departments of the two schools.